At last she sat back and licked her swollen lips. “Tastes so good.”
He forced himself to remain still as she ran exploratory hands up his sides and along his chest, stringing little open-mouthed kisses between his hipbones. When she tweaked his nipples, he gasped. “Driving me crazy, darlin’.”
“You’re so beautiful.” She sounded a little tremulous, her breathing as unsteady as his. Her gold-flecked eyes glowed with desire, and awe, and unbelievably, his cheeks heated in a blush.
Seeing it, she chuckled low in her throat. “Yep, you are.” She stood and wrapped her arms around his neck. “And I’m dying for you to touch me.”
He smoothed his palms along her back and down to her silk-clad buttocks, which he plumped and squeezed, unable to keep from groaning as she arched against him, his cock trapped between their bellies.
“Don’t stop,” she breathed, her fingers digging into his shoulders. When he hesitated, her gaze flew to his, then sharpened. “What’s wrong?”
“I—I don’t—” he stammered, then swallowed hard. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
Lani’s mouth curved. Reaching back behind herself, she unfastened her bra and let it slip down her arms, then took his hand and placed it gently on her breast. “You won’t. Touch me.”
She was heavy and warm, her nipple digging into his palm. He shaped her with tentative fingers, thumb circling, which made her gasp. Yanking his hand away, Geo flushed again when she pressed her lips together to hold back a smile.
“I promise, you won’t hurt me.” She slid her arms back around his neck and moved sinuously against him. “I need you. Please.”
She gave a gigantic tug, and they fell onto the bed together, her breathless giggle as they bounced and settled in a tangle of limbs easing Geo’s anxiety a bit. He kissed her softly, then buried his face between her breasts, the feel of her fingertips stroking his nape raising delicious goose bumps all over his body. Nibbling along one lush curve, he flicked his tongue against the taut, pebbled bud.
“Mmm,” she hummed, her hand tightening on his neck, holding him to her. “Feels so good.”
Encouraged, Geo drew her nipple deep into his mouth and sucked hard, her husky moans of enjoyment brushing along his skin and making him shiver. When he finally released her with a pop, her hips were moving restlessly, her heart hammering beneath his cheek. He rose up above her, groaning as she lifted and spread her knees.
Anticipation burning like fire through his veins, he nuzzled his nose against the swell of her belly, the scent of her driving him wild.
“I want to taste you,” he murmured, brushing his lips along the waistband of her panties. “Please.”
Her “yes” was so husky as to be almost inaudible as she helped him make quick work of the scrap of purple fabric. Geo ran his hands down her inner thighs, pressing them wide.
Her intimate flesh was as juicy as a ripe peach, silky and wet. His nostrils flared, mouth watering, his cock so hard it hurt. He kissed the inside of one knee, then drifted his lips down, attuned to her every breath, every sigh, all the little noises she made deep in her throat.
Propping himself up on his elbows, he searched her face, a blaze of satisfaction going through him at the sight of her with her eyes squeezed shut, teeth sunk in her lower lip. Even as he watched, she gave a sharp tug on his hair, a “get on with it” motion that made him suppress a smile.
He thought about teasing her, thought about edging her pleasure, but her growing need was evident in the moisture beaded on her curls, the hard, swollen nipples, and the way her pulse throbbed in the hollow of her throat.
“Gorgeous,” he breathed, then bent his head and dragged the flat of his tongue along her clit. The salty-sweet taste of her exploded in his mouth, and he growled, even as she cried out, “Geo!”
He licked her, sucked on her, his shoulders holding her legs wide as he slipped one, then two fingers inside her. She was hot, and slick, and he trembled as he thrust into her, over and over. Lani writhed on the bed, her fists twisted in the covers, back arching.
“Come for me, love,” Geo whispered, his fingers plunging deep once more. She froze, her high, thin cry music to his ears. The feel of her spasming around him, the gush of moisture, the swelling of her clit between his lips, had Geo riding the knife’s edge of control.
When the orgasm eased its grip on her, she sank back into the bed, her face flushed, eyes drowsy. “Holy shit.”
He couldn’t help but grin. “Good?”
Flicking him on the nose, she grunted, “You know it was.” Then she stroked his cheek, thumb drifting over his lower lip. “Condoms in the side table.” She watched as he retrieved one and shakily rolled it on, then pushed him to his back. His fingers digging into her thighs, Geo let out a groan when she sank down onto him.
“Lani, Jesus!” Her body clasped him tight, and he found himself gritting his teeth, fighting to hold back.
She circled her hips, eyes falling shut, her lips parting. Tamping down his own need for release, he slowed his breathing, hands drifting up and down her silky thighs. As she moved, he gave her short, hard thrusts, her little whimpers of pleasure tightening his chest all over again.
“Geo...” Lani planted her hands on either side of his shoulders, her hair falling in a scented curtain around them and cocooning them in their own little world. Everything else faded away, until there was only the feel of her lush curves, her lips on his. “You feel so good inside me. You’re so deep... I need...”
At her gasping plea, he braced his feet on the bed and lifted his hips fully into her downward strokes, hilting himself, over and over. “Take what you need, sweetheart,” he encouraged, his hands cradling her breasts, the hard curve of her belly pressing against him.
When her breathing roughened even more, and her whimpers became breathless cries, he licked his thumb and pressed it to her clit, circling it, flicking it, then rubbing it hard, until she threw her head back and came with a long, low moan.
Digging her nails hard into his chest, Lani rode out the pleasure, and the sweet pain, the thought of her marks on his skin, kicked him over the edge. He arched clear off the bed with the force of it, his jaw clenched to keep from shouting something he had no right to shout:
Mine!
* * *
“Did you always want to be a SEAL?”
Lani’s voice was drowsy, her head heavy on his chest.
“Nah.” He sifted her hair through his fingers, his other hand drifting up and down her back. “I’d never even heard of them until one of my buddies decided he wanted to enlist in the Navy. For shits and giggles I went with him to the recruiter, and on the wall was this rah-rah poster of buff dudes doing what looked like some really awesome shit. I couldn’t stop staring at it.”
“Ah. The recruiter smelled blood in the water.”
He shook his head in disgust. “He really did, and I fell for it hook, line and sinker. These days guys who pass the initial assessment go to a separate bootcamp that feeds directly into the SEAL pipeline, but back then, you went to regular bootcamp and applied for Naval Special Warfare. Took me two years to get in.”
“So you did your time on a big old gray ship.” Lani splayed her palm over his abs. “And the recruiter met his quota.”
“Exactly. I made my share of dumb-kid mistakes along the way, too, which didn’t help.”
“But yet here you are.”
“Here I am.”
She propped herself on her elbow to gaze down at him, hair tangled, eyes heavy-lidded. The sheet slipped down to pool at her waist, leaving her full breasts gloriously bare. Reveling in the freedom to touch her at last, Geo cupped one gently, his thumb caressing the lush curve.
“So what’s it like?” she whispered. “Over there?”
“Afghanistan?”
When she nodded, he let his hand drop away and fall to the be
d. “Certain parts of it are absolutely majestic, with some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen.”
“What are the people like?”
“Stoic. Weary. Hard-working. Proud. Most of them have never known peace in their lifetimes.”
Before he knew it, Geo was telling her about the remote villages high in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, some of them completely cut off from the rest of the country during the winter months.
“And all we did was bring the war to their doorstep,” he said quietly. “Sometimes when I think about it, I—”
He fell silent, aware of her hand rubbing in soothing circles over his chest and stomach. Fuck, how could he explain his complicated feelings about what he’d seen and done? He wanted to, though. He wanted to tell her everything.
Forcing a smile, he reached up to tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear. “Why are you so easy to talk to?”
“Well, I’m a bartender. Listening is part of the job description.”
“Uh-uh. I don’t think it’s the job. I think it’s all you.” And I’m this close to falling for you. His throat closed. But I know you don’t want me.
How could he blame her? He himself had seen the fallout from the marriages, the relationships, that’d broken apart under the strain of so many long absences. Of course she wouldn’t want to bring her child into that.
He suppressed a wistful sigh. Her child. A part of her, a tiny human who’d hopefully inherit her beautiful eyes, her loving heart, her intelligence and wisdom...
“What’re you thinking about?” Her voice was soft.
Shoving his ridiculous feelings down deep, Geo summoned up a more genuine smile. “About what an incredible mama you’re going to be.”
Her eyes crinkled. “I actually felt the baby move the other day. It was this tiny popping and fluttering sensation, almost like gas bubbles.”
“Wow.”
“I may have cried a little, you know? It hit me like a ton of bricks—this is real.”
“Were they happy tears?”
“Mostly.” Her palm came to rest between his pecs. “I’m still scared to do this alone, but I’m in a much better place than I was the night I met you.”
Geo listened as she told him about meeting Rhys’s plane after his deployment. “We’d been broken up for about six months by then. I’d just found out I was pregnant, which sent me into a total panic. Instead of a Welcome Home sign, I made one that said Let’s Try Again and totally put him on the spot in front of his entire platoon.” She let out a groan, dropping her forehead to his chest. “And in front of the woman he’s actually in love with.”
“Ouch.” Aching for her, Geo asked, “How did he handle it?”
“With grace and forgiveness, far more than I deserved. When I realized my desperate stunt wasn’t going to work, I tried to play it off as I’m a jealous bitch who can’t stand seeing him happy with someone else.”
“I’m sure he didn’t believe that, not if he knows you at all.”
She lifted her head to gaze down at him. “He didn’t. That’s the moment I realized that if I told him about the baby right then, the idiot would try to sacrifice his newfound happiness for me. I couldn’t let him do that, not again. I convinced him to go away, climbed into the shower, bawled my eyes out, and then went to work.” She smiled ruefully. “Where I met you. That’s the unfortunate aftermath you walked into that night.”
“Mmm.” Geo pulled her close and kissed her cheek. “All I noticed was how tough you were when you sent that creep packing. I, uh, was a little afraid of you, to be honest.”
She gave him a swat. “Oh, stop. You were not.”
“Just a little.” He grinned up at her to show he was joking, and her face softened. She ran her fingertip along his jaw to trace it lightly over his lips.
“One of the first things I noticed about you is this gorgeous smile. It lit up the room.”
His heart turned over. “Really?” he croaked, then smirked. “Not my hot Navy SEAL bod?”
She rolled her eyes. “This is San Diego. I can go to the beach and see a million hot bods.”
He couldn’t help but snicker. “True.”
“That night I was sick, and hurting, and your kindness toward a complete stranger, your smile, is what stood out to me the most. What I needed the most.” Bending her head, she kissed him gently, the tip of her tongue tracing his lower lip. “I’m so glad I met you.”
Geo wrapped his arms around her as she settled in to taste him leisurely, her little murmurs of pleasure arrowing straight to his cock. He shifted restlessly on the bed, gasping when she broke the kiss only to mouth her way down the length of his neck.
With a wicked smile, she licked each of his nipples in turn, the sensitive buds drawing up into tight points. “Okay, I have to admit,” she murmured, the light flicks of her tongue making him grit his teeth, “your body is pretty hot.”
“Ha, I knew it.” He put one arm up behind his head and flexed, making his six-pack pop.
“Oh, yeah.” Rolling on top of him, she kissed her way down his chest to his belly, where she nuzzled her nose into his navel. “So damn hot.”
Geo wallowed in a haze of enjoyment, his fist twisting in the pillow, as she mouthed along his abs, at last twitching the sheet away from his hips. His cock, the broad purple head glistening with renewed arousal, bobbed up between them.
Lani licked her lips. “Mmm, nice.” Wrapping her fingers around him, she gave him a few long, slow strokes, thumb circling the crown. “Very nice.”
Lifting a trembling hand, he cupped her flushed cheek. “Sweetheart, whatever you want,” he gasped. “I’m all yours.”
She turned her head and kissed his palm, her voice whisper soft. “Then make love to me.”
Falling to her back, she pulled him over on top of her. His heart thudding painfully in his ears, Geo settled between her widespread legs. It was her turn to gasp as he dragged the base of his shaft against her clit, her slickness easing the way.
“So beautiful,” he murmured, shaping her breasts in his hands, plumping them gently. He bent to kiss her, his tongue rubbing along hers, hot and wet. She dug her nails into his shoulders, tiny moans welling up in her throat.
Eager to taste her, Geo worked his way down her body with nibbles and soft licks. At the gentle curve of her belly, he paused for the briefest of moments, then brushed his lips against it, too. He glanced up at her to see her watching him, her eyes warm. She combed her fingers lightly through his hair.
“No six-pack here. Sorry.”
He chuckled. “Nope, just one sexy mama.”
“Ha. Will you say that when I’m big as a house?”
As soon as the words left her mouth, he could see her wince and bite her lip. To hide his own reaction, he bent his head to kiss her tummy again, whispering, “You’ll always be gorgeous to me, no matter what.”
Even big as a house. Even if I won’t be here to see it.
Her fingers drifted along his jaw, the breath she blew out a little shaky. “I need you. Please, Geo.”
Oh, God, he needed her, too. So much he ached with it, an ache that went far beyond the physical. It was a need to belong to her, an unfamiliar longing that welled up from deep inside him and flooded him with a combination of joy and pain.
“I’m here, darlin’,” he murmured, kissing her gently. “I’m all yours.”
Fumbling in the side table for a condom, Geo rolled it on, then notched himself at her entrance and started a slow rock, a raspy groan breaking from him when she pulled her knees back to let him inside. Inch by inch he filled her, his lips never leaving hers.
His first strokes into her were careful, unhurried, almost languid. Lani moved with him, lifting her hips to meet him, one hand on his nape, the other riding the motion of his flexing back.
Squeezing his eyes shut, he let
the sensations wash over him, determined to commit them to memory. He nuzzled her neck, groaning when she raked her nails lightly across his shoulders, her silky thighs hugging his ribs.
“Geo,” she breathed. “You feel so fucking good.”
He wanted it to last forever, but all too soon his body took over, clamoring for release. Sliding his hands under her to change the angle, he buried himself to the hilt and pulsed his hips, rubbing against her clit. With a shuddering cry, she arched her back, knees falling wide. Alternating short, hard pumps of his cock with long, deep strokes, he growled low in his throat when at last she spasmed around him, her body milking his.
Helpless against it, he threw his head back and let go with a low moan, pleasure sweeping over him in wave after shivery wave. When it was over, she drew him down against her and wrapped him up tightly, so close he could feel the pounding of her heart.
Geo kissed her shoulder, her neck, and finally her lips, his tongue caressing hers as their breathing slowed. He slid from the bed to take care of the condom and practically ran back to where she held the covers up for him, giggling at his exaggerated shivers and squealing when he tucked his cold feet next to hers.
With a sigh, she spooned back against him and was soon asleep, while he lay and listened to her breathe, relishing the closeness. His hand crept down to cradle her belly, and in the haze between waking and sleeping, a sudden fantasy sprang to life—the fantasy that they both were his. His to cherish, to protect, to come home to...
To love.
I guess I don’t have to worry about falling for you anymore, sweetheart.
The truth settled in his chest with an unexpected warmth that brought a huge lump to his throat.
Because it was too late. He already had.
Chapter Eighteen
Lani had never felt so decadent in her life.
Her body throbbed, her nipples so deliciously sore they tingled, and if she moved just right, she could still feel the echoes of Geo deep inside her. Squirming in her chair, she watched him fork up huge bites of lasagna.
Trusting a Warrior Page 22
